Perspective
by NamiLoveless
Summary: It doesn't matter how long time goes on, because no matter what happens, I still hate you.


A/N: Hello, I'm NamiLoveLess. This is my first attempt at an actual fanfiction, with already-established fictional characters—I've only written fanfictions with OCs or real-life people—so I'm actually pretty nervous about this. I hope you all enjoy it; here's a small ficlet on what I thought Arietta's thoughts might have been before her final battle. Chances are, I'll be writing one for every God-General, but there's no telling how long those will take…

…Anyway, I hope you like this. Critique would be very helpful and appreciated; any questions you have will be answered unless I happen to be attacked by a rabid animal before I get the chance. I hope Arietta's not horribly OOC.

Holy censor. I almost forgot something that could possibly ruin lives:

**_Warning: This one-shot contains spoilers._**

Disclaimer: I do not own Tales of the Abyss or any characters affiliated with it; Namco does.

* * *

Time is ticking, Anise.

With every minute you spend making me wait, the weight of my anger grows more and more, building up until I could kill you just by throwing it at you.

Everything that you have done is rushing back to me now—your friends murdering my mommy, you stealing Ion, and now…

I would fight with everything I have, just to see you scream and writhe in pain, but somehow, I cannot bring myself to do it.

It was enough for me to fight before, without holding anything back, because I knew that wherever you were, Ion would be there too, and he would tell me to stop. He would tell me to stop trying to hurt you and your friends, and even though it hurt to see him protecting _you_, it still gave me a small chance to hope that he still cared about me somehow, in any way possible.

Even though I knew he cared about you much more, it still lightened my heart, just a little bit, to hear him say my name. He was the only reason why I still fought to live. He was the only reason why I hadn't given up.

But you, Anise…You took him away from me! And it's all because of you that the most important person to me is no longer alive! This is all your fault!

…That's what I would have thought before. That's what I might have thought until my final day. I might have died believing that _your _Ion had truly been stolen from _me._ That you might have been better than I was.

But that was not the truth at all. You were all lying to me—you, your friends, my comrades, and even Ion…! You made him lie to me on Mount Roneal, too!

So _that_ was what he was going to tell me…but you stopped him. Why did you do it, I wonder?

Did you think that I would have done something extreme out of anger?

Did you think that I would have become even more intolerable?

Were you _jealous_ that he might have cared about someone he never really knew?

None of my questions will be answered, probably. You will probably never know that I knew the truth. But I know that you would probably be shocked to know. You would probably wonder how I found out.

You would never be smart enough to guess how I found out the truth. You are familiar with the person who told me, but would you guess who it was?

It was Sync.

He told me what _your _Ion would have told me himself, if it had not been for you and your interruption. I didn't want to believe him, but he convinced me, in the end. He showed me something that would not let me continue believing that he was lying to me, the way everyone else had been all this time.

All of those lies are useless now, and it pleases me somehow, because I know you do not know it. I know you think I am still ignorant of everything that had been in plain sight before me for years. I am the one who has a secret now, and you will neverknow it.

But why…? Why would he tell me…? He never bothered to even pretend that he paid attention to anything that had nothing to do with his goals. Revealing that secret only created a new one, Sync…Why would you bother…?

I can hear the footsteps of you and your friends, and the sound of your voices echo near me now. I can sense Largo shifting his weight slightly, and I turn to him, clutching my doll to my chest more tightly as he stares at me intently, with my friends surrounding me protectively.

I hear your voice screeching something, and I turn away from him, waiting for you to appear so that I can scream at you like I used to, knowing that you still think I don't know the truth. Do you know the truth about _him_, Anise? Would you even understand?

I doubt that you would. I doubt that you _could _understand. You will fight me, and you will think I am fighting for the one that was never mine. I can tell that one of us will die, Anise, and I already know who it will be.

I am holding so many secrets within me now—secrets you don't know about and will never hear. It is the only thing that gives me pleasure now…I will reach Ion first, Anise, and I'll be with him forever…

But that is something you will _never _know.


End file.
